Structure lost in Gunbarrel fire

A structure burned Sunday night on the Gunbarrel fire 40 miles west of Cody, Wyoming.

The Sweetwater Lodge on the Shoshone National Forest was burned in the Gunbarrel Fire last night. The lodge, which was owned by the Forest Service and uninhabited, had not been in operation for many years.

Fire management officer Mark Giacoletto said extreme fire behavior Sunday evening pushed the fire 4.5 miles in 3 hours. “There was no way we were going to put people in that drainage yesterday,” said Giacoletto.

Firefighting resources had been prioritized to work on private operating and functioning structures in the western part of the North Fork corridor. There was no motorized access to the lodge. The previous day, helicopters dropped water on and around the lodge. Plans to place sprinklers near the lodge were not feasible to implement due to hazardous fire conditions.

The Gunbarrel Fire was started by lightning on July 26 and has burned 31,000 acres along the North Fork of the Shoshone River.